COMMERCIAL ITEMS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1367, 19 February 1912, Page 8

COMMERCIAL ITEMS.

INVESTM EKT SHAKF.S. No transactions in investment shares were recorded on Saturday. The buying ami selling quotations were as under:— linye.r.l. Hcticrs. £ s. d. S. s. d. National Hank - 515 6 Well. Deposit — 0 8 0 Auckland Gas 5 6 0 '370 Cliristchurch Cos '. 550 1 10 0 Gisborr.2 Gas 2 17 0 2 13 6 Well. Gas (£6 10s.) - 1215 0 Well. Gas (pref. 7s. 6d.)-... - 0 9 0 Gear Meat !.E4) - 13 2 6 Union Steam 1 19 0 - Well. Woollen (ord.) - 3 17 6 Well. Woollen (pref.) - 3 0 0 Wostport Coal 17 0 17 6 Taringaniutu Totara ...... 2 4 0 -- Golden liay Cement 14 3 1 4 9 N'.Z. Con. Dental - 12 0

STANDARD INSURANCE COMPANY. The balance-sheet of the Standard Insurance Company for th-3 year ended Decomher 31, 1911, is to hand. The net premium income totalled £60,768. The losses, including appropriations for unpaid and unadjusted . losses, totalhd £42,021. equal to 52.03 per cent, of the premium income; the expenses of management amounted to £23,527, equal to 35.31 per cent., leaving the underwriting profit at £10,220, equal to 12.66 per cent, of the premium income, which is decidedly creditable. To the underwriting profit must bo added inter-' - on investments ,+ii2&J, transfer fees £12, and amount brought forward from t.- ■■ previous j-ear £7936, making a total of £f6 449 Out of this. £10.G0C has been added to the neservc fund, which will now stand at £90.000; the dividend at the rate of 8 per cent, and the bonus of M. .per share toother absorb £8500. leaving £7949 to bo carried forward. The company "has done remarkably well during the past year. 1 lie annual meeting is to be held at Diinedin on March 4.

CAPITAL IN GAS UNDERTAKINGS. The capital now directly employed in tho supply in' coal gas lo United Kingdom cities, towns and villages for lighting, cooking, and heating imrpuses is approximately £155,000,0uU. Hut this is not enough to meet the steadily crowing demand for gas. Every year gns companies and also local authorities owning gasworks arc obliged to apply to Parliament for sanction to- raise auditioiml capital in order to enable them to meet the increasing demands luimo upon them. According to a recent number of the "Gas World,- the money to b.-; applied for in the next session of Parliament is close upon £1,700.000, which is £500,000 mors than was applied for in the last session. This shows that the industry is expanding dospite tho competition of electricity. Another feature to be noted in the Dills now being promoted is the tendency to amalgamation among companies. Within the last two years the Gas bight and Coke Company of bondon-the largest gas company in the world—has absorbed three adjoining companies, with an aggregate capital of about £1,700,000, which brings up the share and loan capital of the company lo close over .£29,0C0,C00. This year two Hills have been deposited for the amalgamation in each case of three companies, all the six companies supplying in the near and far suburbs of London. The Wandsworth and Putney, the Hitchani and Wimbledon and the Ecsom Companies ire amalgamating, with a capital of £1,362,000. and the South Suburban fsiipplyinir the Crystal Palace district), the Kronilcy and the West Kent Comp-inies arc ■imnlgainaling, with a capital of about £1 ,J6t,GCO. It is also to be noted that almost every year some- gasworks ;i!V transferred from companies to local authorities.

UNITED STATES BUSINESS YEAH. Nineteen hundred and eleven. writes "Hradstrect's," was a period of striking irregularity in trade and industry, but. despite evidences of widespread caution and repression a fair, in some lines a record, business was done. This, it is conccibd, was generally at the expense of profits, which latter, rather than the aggregate volume of business, came in for widespread complaint. It was a yeor of generally high commodity price:-, broken, however, by some remarkable extii'-'mcs of movement "in staples, causing especial strain alike upon manufacturing industry and consumption, and eventuating in a lessened volume of business and milch idle machinery. It was, furthermore, a year of decided unsettlenieni, of intense agitation in some financial as well as industrial lines, which for the first tinio experienced the application of hitherto untried methods of legal regulation. Time, at first viewed with decided alarm, later lost most of their terrors, and with the passing of tho year toward its close somewhat saner vi-sws of politico-economic questions led to a perceptible improvement in general seuthirjnt. For the purposes of a trade review, indeed, the year should bo divided into two parts, with the first eight months generally a period of disturbance, of short, time in industry, of wilhdrawals from savings banks, or tariff revision and tinkering, of crop scares, of closely-consid-ered hand-to-mouth buying, and of slow collections, while the last four months was a period of some relaxation of caution, or growth of more cheerful feeling, and of o disoositioii to look on the brighter side of tilings.

FEILDING MARKET REPORT. , ibssrs. A. H. Atkinson and Co., Ltd., of Fcilriing. report an average yarding of pigs on Friday, values being on a par witli those of last week. Of poultry tliciia was a large entry, and good-conditioned birds sold well. The firm also sold some 100 casus of peaches and plums at quotations. A larsfc general entry of vehicles, tadrlhry, ajid sundries met with a ready sale, Ileus,

2s. 6d.. 25. 9d.. 3.-., to 3s. 3d.; roos.lcrs, 2b. 9d., 3s. 3d.; hens and chicks. 3s. 9d.; halfgrown cockerels, Is. 3d., Is. 6(1., Is. 9d.; (lucks, 3-. 3d. to 3.-. 9(1. (all at per pair); (log-. ss. to 10s. I'igs: Weaners, 7s. Bs., 9s„ 9s. 6d., Ms., lis. 6d.; slips, 125.; 135.; stores, 16=., 17.-. 6(1., 18s., 195.; tight porkers, 255.. 255. 6(1., 275.. 295. 6d.. 325. 6d. Pany. £30. Saddles.. 245., '!2s. 6d. l'rodurc: ,lam peaches, 2s. to 2s. 9d.ca.-e; dessert, 4s. to ss. 6d. ; apple,, 3s. 3d. to ss. 6(1.; plums, Is. 3d. to 55.; oats, ss. 6d. per bushel.

CUSTOMS. Customs revenue collected at the, port of Wellington on Saturday amounted to £1759 95., the total for the week being £11,8j4 lb-' 5d The returns for each of (he past eight weeks, compared with the figures for flic corresponding periods of last year show :li U "" CV: - 1911-12 1910-11 £ .E December 33 JJJ.W6 »-936 January 6 15.134 8 - 143 a ar •13 24.024 24.294 ilnnlmryq " 13.807 ?.«? Foilrtiarv 3 12.125 12,958 February 10 24,751 7.ji72 February 17 U.BM 21.007 138,079 120,594 , The lie-r rfutv collected during the past week amounted to £233 175., as against £240 7s. for the corresponding week of last year. GRAIN' AXD PKODTJCE. (By Telegraph-Press Association! Oamaru, February 17. Not much business has been done during the wctk, the new grain not yet being available, and old wheat scarce. Some small lots of old wheat have changed hands, Velvet at 3s. 7d. and red chaff at 3s. 6d. net at country stations, lor new wheat for forward delivery 3s. <d. (less commission) was. given at a country station and for another lot 3s. 2d. (less commission) at a more distant station _ The broken weather has checked tho inflow of samples of new oats, but a fair amount of business has been done. Gartons have been sold at 2s. net and 2s. fless commission) at country stations, tl\_' lines of the former including 1000, 000, and 400 sacks and smaller parcels, while those subject to commission include lines of liwu. 600. and 500 sacks. Algerians have been sold at ronntrv station,:, inclndinE lines of ICOO and 500 sicks. Duns have been sold at 2s. n?t at country stations. Pome niait.in.ir barley has been sold at 4sT (iess commission) on trucks. Ontshcaf chaff sells at 455. to its. 6d. on 'pota'o'cs have weakened. £3 net on trucks being the basis of the latest business.

LOXDOX MARKETS. The New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Ajrcncv Company, Ltd.. have rcceiv=(l the following cablegram from their London house, under date February 16-.-brazen meat- There is a moderate demand for mutton, and a fair inouiry for lamb, but the market for beef is weaker.

FIiOZFN MEAT QUOTATION'S. Bj rclcsr.-ish-I'ioo? A.-.j^ciotioD-Cot.yrii;hl dice. February 18, 5.5 p.m.) London, February 17. The Frozen Meat Trade, Association's Sroithficld market quotations for the undermentioned classes' of fro7.cn meat are based on actual sales of not less than one hundred carcasses of mutton or lamb, or twenty-live quarters of beef of fair average quality. The quotations aro not selected lines, 'out for parcels fairly representative of the balk of tho shipments now on the market. The prices which follow are on an average a. farthing per lb. more than the value ci ship, this difference representing an average cost ill espouses, handling, conveyance, and selling the " IMt: ~ Feb. 10 Feb. 17 Mutton- d- dCanterbury, light — — Canterbury, medium — — Canterbury, heavy — —, Southland — —' North Island, best 4 3-15 . 4 3-16 North Island, ordinary ... 41-16 41-16 Australian, light 3J 3;i Australian, heavy 3 5-16 3 5-16 Eivur Plate, light 33 33 lliver Plate, heavy 33 3;» New Zealand, ewes 3;j 5 5-16 Australian ewes 3 3 Kiver Place, ewes 3J . 3J Lamb— Canterbury, light — — Canterbury, medium — — Canterbury, heavy — — Southland 5J 5 1 North Island, selected .... SJ. sij XCorth Island, ordinary ... 5 1-16 5.1 Australia;!, best 4S 4i Australian, fair 4J 4* Australian, inferior 41 4J Kiver Plate, lirst 48 4J Kiver Plate second 4j -4 BeefNew Zealand, ox fores .... — — ' New Zealand, ox hinds .. — — Australian, ox fores 3 3 Australian, ox hinds 31146 311-16 River PkiY:, ox fores 215-16 3 Kiver Plate, ox hinds 33 33 River Plate, chilled fores 3ij 31 Kiver Plate, chilled hinds 43 41 Rabbits have slumped. The high prices practically stopped business. Largo Sydneys are quoted at 18s. 9d.